Technology

This week the world’s largest online retailer Amazon.com Inc, unveiled its Kindle Fire tablet computer, taking aim at Apple Inc. bestselling iPad with a device that’s smaller and less than half the price. It is clearly not as good and it does not do as much. But then it is 1/2 price and to a lot of people that have budget constraints due to the current financial climate, then 1/2 would mean lets buy it since that is all the money we have.

While the Kindle Fire can vie with the iPad in access to media content, it lacks a camera, microphone or a connection to a 3G wireless network. It may not appeal to consumers who are drawn to the iPad’s larger screen and willing to pay a premium for added features such as video chat.

In USA customers can order the new tablet, as well as a basic version of the Kindle e-reader for $79 and two new touch-screen readers, one for $99 and another for $149 that has 3G wireless access. The lowest-priced Kindle can ship today, the tablet will go out Nov. 15, and touch-screen readers will be released Nov. 21, Amazon said.

I am all for competition and I do think there has to be a competitor to Apple iPad if we want to see fair pricing for this important technology as well as a check on Apple seemingly unstoppable growth killing everything else in its way the way Microsoft used to do a decade ago.

However, some content providers are releasing device only content: for example owning a Kindle Fire; this week DC announced that 100 graphic novels will be made exclusive to Kindle Fire customers.

Last June, DC started its digital program. Because the DC app was available to all devices, DC has seen great success in digital sales, even offering many online only sales on various titles. With the company’s launch of the New 52, DC went “same-day digital,” meaning comics were offered online the same day as print. This new method of business has been successful for DC and has helped many of the New 52 break sales records.

By making this deal with Amazon, DC is forcing people to also own a Kindle. This is what Jim Lee stated on the company’s website, “We’ve learned from the success of DC Comics – The New 52 that making our graphic novels available whenever and wherever our readers want is critical to the future growth and health of our publishing businesses–both in print and digital format.” The deal is beneficial for both companies. DC gets access to millions of customers, and Amazon generates buzz for the Kindle Fire.

Question I ask is that content providers should try and release on all available platforms. They get their higher sales and let the consumer decide which device suites their budget and let the device specific attributes decide which device wins and who loses.